StockNews.com Upgrades News (NASDAQ:NWSA) to Buy

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) was upgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on NWSA. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on shares of News from $44.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Citigroup started coverage on News in a research report on Friday, January 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $36.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Guggenheim raised their price objective on News from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, News currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $39.25.

News Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NWSA opened at $28.08 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $15.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.29 and a beta of 1.35. News has a fifty-two week low of $22.65 and a fifty-two week high of $30.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.38. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $28.33 and a 200-day moving average price of $27.54.

News (NASDAQ:NWSA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $2.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.56 billion. News had a net margin of 3.49% and a return on equity of 4.76%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.16 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that News will post 0.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On News

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of NWSA. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of News by 124.0% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 14,713,823 shares of the company’s stock worth $391,832,000 after purchasing an additional 8,144,856 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in News by 374.6% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,160,045 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,488,000 after acquiring an additional 1,704,944 shares during the last quarter. Whale Rock Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in News in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $44,585,000. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of News by 6.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,799,596 shares of the company’s stock valued at $689,397,000 after acquiring an additional 1,476,224 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of News by 1,815.4% during the third quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 1,413,158 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,632,000 after purchasing an additional 1,339,379 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 66.97% of the company’s stock.

News Company Profile

News Corporation, a media and information services company, creates and distributes authoritative and engaging content, and other products and services for consumers and businesses worldwide. It operates through six segments: Digital Real Estate Services, Subscription Video Services, Dow Jones, Book Publishing, News Media, and Other.